Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

The carrying value of property, plant and equipment is as follows:


(Thousands)	Depreciable Lives(1)	December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Land	Indefinite	$	30,099	$	28,845
Building and improvements	3 - 40 years	366,490		363,077
Poles	30 years	314,489		296,941
Fiber	30 years	4,835,623		4,434,506
Equipment	5 - 7 years	460,463		399,473
Copper	20 years	3,974,410		3,964,439
Conduit	30 years	90,087		89,963
Tower assets	20 years	1,221		5,619
Finance lease assets	See Note 3	52,589		73,487
Construction in progress	See Note 3	49,771		46,508
Other assets	15 - 20 years	10,436		10,436
Corporate assets	3 - 7 years	15,731		14,883
		10,201,409		9,728,177
Less accumulated depreciation		(6,219,340)		(5,973,630)
Property, plant and equipment, net		$	3,982,069	$	3,754,547

(1)Certain property acquired from Windstream is depreciated using Windstream's estimated useful lives. Specifically, certain Fiber assets are depreciated using an average 20 year life.

Finance lease assets above predominantly represent fiber leases, where we have the exclusive, unrestricted, and indefeasible right to use one, a pair, or more strands of fiber of a fiber cable.

Depreciation expense for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021 was $280.8 million, $263.0 million and $261.2 million, respectively.